When the heat is on….

Steroids have been in circulation in the sporting world for decades. The recent news relating to steroids and professional wrestling have me in a conflict of interest. This debate is nearly tired, but my perspective requires clarification. Being somewhat libertarian, I am of the opinion that whatever you put in your body is your business. However, as a competitive athlete, I do believe that the integrity of competition is severely compromised by the use of steroids.

There has been testing in certain competitive sports for a long time; but those in charge of certain sporting institutions have often allowed their use to go untested or barely punished, if at all. The baseball and cycling controversies have sparked a renewed interest in this subject, provoking congressional investigations and reforms. Recently, shocking headlines announced that a popular professional wrestler, Chris Benoit, murdered his wife and offspring, then hanged himself. His body was tested, discovering 10x the amount of Testosterone levels, due to a synthetic testosterone considered an anabolic steroid, but not illegal under the sport’s testing policy. WOW.  It seems to me that if this incident was indeed related to the drug he was taking, it could have been prevented. I am not a wrestling fan, although I had watched the occasional match perhaps 10 years ago. Even then, as a youth, I was aware of rumors that most of them were jacked up on steroids. It’s pretty obvious if you’ve ever seen one of these guys, excepting the smaller Latin Americans. When the baseball, cycling, and football incidents were happening, I began to wonder when the spotlight would be turned toward the wrestling entertainment industry. However, as far as I know this did not happen until after the horrific incident mentioned above. But today 10 or more professional wrestling entertainers have been suspended after testing positive for steroid use. Apparently, the Albany District Attorney contacted the WWE after several wrestlers, including Chris Benoit, appeared on customer lists of clinics connected with Florida-based Signature Pharmacy, which has been a target of the Albany probe. I find the deaths much more sad and unacceptable than the 30 day suspensions handed out to the meathead narcissists. The critical question is do the drugs endanger more than the taker? If the drugs were responsible for this catastrophy (proof of the drug’s danger the health of  more than just the taker) then it would seem that the wrestling industry should have been under greater scrutiny sooner. If the drugs were not responsible then this is where I have a conflict of interest. Since the wrestling matches’ outcomes are predetermined the steroids have no effect on the non-existant competition. What’s wrong with looking your best, right? A person should have the freedom to endanger their own health, be it automobile transportation or drug ingestion. Please provide me with some comments and your perspectives.